State Rep. Dan Beiser (D-Alton) is one of six Illinois legislators being targeted in an ad campaign over how they voted on budget-related bills that came up this year.
Americans for Prosperity-Illinois launched digital ads this week, with the hope of informing the public of where lawmakers land on important policy issues.
Democrats in the Senate blocked a real property tax freeze that passed the state House of Representatives with a super majority. Democrats in the House supported Speaker Mike Madigan’s budget bill that fell $7 billion short.
“Many of the actions taken in Springfield by some of our state legislators over the past year have not been in the best interest of taxpayers,” AFP-I State Director David From said in a news release. “This effort is intended to show the public instances where their legislators have not stood up for the taxpayers’ best interest, so they can urge those legislators to change course.”
From told the Record the legislators represent priority or swing districts where AFP-I believes it can be most effective in calling for change. The organization also has a strong grassroots presence in those areas, which allows it to reinforce online messages with face-to-face conversations and direct mailing. The ad that names Beiser urges voters to call him and tell him not to support legislation like the budget bill Madigan proposed.
“What we’re saying at the essence is this is bad policy. We spend too much money already. It’s going to mean a tax hike,” From said. “We’re advocating for better policy but we need policymakers to embrace those policies.”
Beiser faces Mike Babcock, a Republican, in the November election.
This initial phase of the campaign involves incumbents in six legislative districts: state Sens. Tom Cullerton and Melinda Bush and state Reps. Deb Conroy, Sam Yingling, John Bradley and Beiser.
AFP-I will likely add another handful of lawmakers to the list in coming weeks as it initiates a direct-mail campaign, From said.
“There’s a lot of money that’s being spent this year,” he said. “We wanted to be good stewards of the resources we’re deploying to make sure we keep it highly targeted to just a few districts – places we feel like we can reinforce with a strong grassroots effort.”
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